Dismissed Soldier And Gang Members Arrested For Plotting To Rob A Bank (photo)

FOUR suspected armed robbers in military uniform, heading for Ekiti State to rob a bank, have been arrested in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, by the operatives of the Inspector General of Police Special Tactical Squad (IGP – STS), attached to the Ogun State Police Command.

The suspects, Matthew Olagoke, Ahmed Abdulahi, Johnson Ojo and Adebanjo Bamidele were planning to attack a bank in Ekiti State on December 7 when IGP-STS became aware of the plot, trailed them to Ibadan and nabbed them as they were heading for Ekiti State.

Commissioner Kenneth Ebrimson, who paraded the suspects yesterday before reporters at Eleweran, the command’s headquarters, described the quartet as ‘fake soldiers’ and displayed the three shot guns, 20 live cartridges, three identity cards, four Automated Teller Machine (ATM) cards, seven phones, an expended cartridge and charms recovered from them.

The Nation gathered that the planned attack was spearheaded by a dismissed corporal in the Army, Adebamji Bamgboye.

The suspects were intercepted at the New Gbagi Market, along the Ibadan-Ife expressway in Ibadan where their vehicle was flagged down for a search by IGP-STS from Ogun Command, who had been on their trail from Abeokuta.

Ebrimson said that the gang specialised in robbing filling stations, banks as well as university hostels, adding that they had attacked University of Ibadan and Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA).

Speaking to reporters, the leader of the fake soldiers, Bamgboye, said that he was recruited to lead the robbery gang on a mission to the bank in Ekiti State after an assurance that the bank manager and six other employees of the bank had agreed to work for the success of the operation.